Angels: Mathis traded for intriguing left-hander

[caption id="attachment_114184" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="brad mills"][/caption]Gee, the Angels didn't have to put a tag around Jeff Mathis' neck and leave him in the front yard after all.

Toronto was happy to take catcher Mathis to back up J.P. Arencibia, and they gave up Brad Mills, a left-hander from the U. of Arizona who had an intriguing 2011.

It was Mills' third season at Triple-A Las Vegas, and he went 11-9, 4.00 in an extremely difficult league for pitchers. The key stat was home runs. Mills gave up just 1.1 per nine innings.

Mills also had an excellent 139-36 strikeout-walk ratio, and his 1.271 WHIP was an improvement over 1.433 in 2010.

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto kept close tabs on the Pacific Coast League because the Diamondbacks, his former employer, had a team in it. So he presumably knows what he's getting.

As for Mathis, he was a first-round pick renowned for his athletic ability but never figured out the bat. However, you can't calculate the wild pitches he saved Angels pitchers, and the confidence he gave Jered Wever and Ervin Santana. At this stage his best role is No. 2 catcher, and he'll likely be drawing a major league paycheck for a long, long time.

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